Dell Mini 9 ubuntu

Discussion in 'Linux' started by helomoto, Oct 15, 2008.

  1. helomoto

    helomoto

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    It's available as a torrent here: http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/to-download--t151.html

    It does work decent of the box, but theres a few issues, probably fixable. It's an lpia release, and set up to use dell-mini.archive.canonical.com repositories.

    Haven't had time to tinker with it much yet though, but so far:
    Sound mutes when plugging in a jack(!!), but is gone after sleep (still sound in headphones though).
    SD cards do work if inserted at boot.
    Webcam works if adding uvc module.
    Wifi works oob, but you need to start NetworkManager.
     
    helomoto, Oct 15, 2008
    #1
  2. helomoto

    lotus49

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    Full marks to Dell for providing their laptot customers with a proper Linux distro. Linspire might (or for all I know might not) be a "proper distro" but Linpus is fragile and difficult to customise. Also Linpus is based on Fedora and I am really not that keen on the rpm approach to package management - it's Debian and apt-get all the way for me.

    I bought my One just as the Dell was being released and the only thing that stopped me buying one of those instead was the ridiculous keyboard layout with the qwerty row lined up directly above the asdfg row (ie no offset like on a proper keyboard). I really like my One and all my friends have been very impressed with it (one has bought himself one and another friend is likely to). It even has a high WAF which led to my wife telling me to buy another for my son to use at school. However, it is badly let down by Linpus in my view. Despite being a hardened Linux hacker, I am still playing with Ubuntu trying to get it to support the hardware about 6 weeks after I bought the damn thing.

    I am very sorry to say that, out of the OSs I have tried on my One, XP ran better than any of the Linux distros and I hate Microsoft and XP so it pains me to say that.

    I am very close to having Intrepid Ibex fully working (see other threads here) but I might try this and see if I have any more joy. Thanks for the pointer.
     
    lotus49, Oct 15, 2008
    #2
  3. helomoto

    2manydjs

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    I second that!

    I'll download this image: I was waiting for it! :) In the meanwhile, could you tell us a bit on the performance of this Ubuntu version? (boot time, battery life, etc)

    Thanks!

    EDIT the torrent file in the linked forum is not available anymore, but it can be found on piratebay.
     
    2manydjs, Oct 16, 2008
    #3
  4. helomoto

    2manydjs

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    Acer has done a better job with the installer DVD than Dell: you need an external USB DVD and cannot use a 1 GB thumbdrive.

    EDIT

    After reading this thread it seems Acer has done many things better with their Linpus light than Dell with Ubuntu! Quite disappointing.

    The following issues for out-of-the-box machines

    - SSD is formatted as 4GB, even though some are 8GB or 16 GB. (and formatted EXT3)
    - Memory seems to be maxed by software at 1 GB!
    - Browser is firefox customized for Yahoo (including Yahoo toolbar)
    - Installation problems with third party software (e.g. skype and opera)
    - Problems with with internal microphone
    - User interface is considered sluggish
    - Problems with connecting to WPA2
    - Boot time over 30 seconds (easy to achieve yourself with Ubuntu)

    As one user on Ubuntuforums.org puts it: "I wanted a laptop, not a project".

    Linpus Lite might not be very flexible, but at least everything worked out of the box for me..
     
    2manydjs, Oct 17, 2008
    #4
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